Screenly 2 player information

Screenly 2, (a.k.a. Screenly v2), is here. This is the new version of the Screenly Player that we have worked on for well over two years. This player was completely rewritten from scratch, and it will play an essential part of Screenly's future.

On this page, you will find up-to-date information about the current state of the Screenly 2 release and other relevant updates.

Hardware requirements

A Raspberry Pi 3 Model B/B+ or a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3 (CM3)

A class 10 SD card (4GB or larger). This isn't required for the CM3.

Disk image

You can find the disk image in once you have logged into the management interface.

You then need to flash it out using Etcher. You can find detailed instructions for how to flash out the disk image in this screencast.

No, Screenly 2 uses the same web interface as the regular version of Screenly. This is why you can have "v1" and "v2" players side-by-side within the same account.

What's new about the player?

Oh, boy! Where do we start? We have been working on this release in parallel to our work with the first player for a long time. It incorporates a lot of lessons we have learned with the initial player. Here is a short list of improvements:

Hardware accelerated web playback

Gapless transitions between all supported asset types

Faster pairing

Improved pairing screen with more detailed network diagnostics

Commercially backed security from Ubuntu

Simplified network configuration

Improved SD card lifespan

Screenshots for videos (this was previously only possible for web pages and images)

What operating system is the new player using?

Both the new and old version were previously running Linux. However, the new player now uses Ubuntu Core, which is a hardened IoT operating system from Ubuntu. This means that there are a large number of security improvements in this release.

Is the new player a dedicated piece of hardware?

No, the new player is just a separate disk image that runs on the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B.

Will the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B be supported?

No, the new player requires the Raspberry Pi B 3 Model B or B+. If you have a Raspberry Pi 2 Model B, you will still be able to run the previous version of Screenly, (until we finally sunset that version).

Will the this version be open sourced?

No, this version will not be open sourced and it will only be available for Screenly Pro users. However, we will keep maintaining Screenly OSE in a separate code base.

Do I need to keep updating this device to get the latest features?

While there are changes that might require re-flashing, the player application itself will automatically update.